OREANDA-NEWS  The Ministry of Justice has updated the list of foreign agents, adding six more people to it. Film director Roman Kachanov, activist Sergey Antonov, lawyer Alexey Pryanishnikov, French researcher Laurent Claude Jean-Louis Vinatier, as well as former St. Petersburg municipal deputies Vladimir Volokhonsky and Nikita Kirillov were declared foreign agents.

All new foreign agents are currently abroad, except for French citizen Laurent Vinatier. He was detained in Moscow on June 6 on suspicion of collecting data on military activities of the Russian Federation and arrested on June 7 in the case of evading the duties of a foreign agent. Vinatier is a 48–year-old consultant to the Swiss non-profit organization Center for Humanitarian Dialogue, which, according to information on the NGO's website, aims to "help prevent, mitigate and resolve armed conflicts through dialogue and mediation." The charge against Vinatier provides for punishment in the form of a fine of up to 300 thousand rubles, or compulsory labor for up to 480 hours, or forced labor for up to five years, or imprisonment for the same period. It became known in court that Vinatier had pleaded guilty.

According to the agency, the director of the films "DMB" and "Down House" – Kachanov – "opposed the special military operation in Ukraine, identified the Russian Federation with a terrorist organization." He is also accused of spreading false information aimed at forming a negative image of the Russian Federation and its Armed Forces. "Participated in the creation and dissemination of messages and materials of foreign agents to an unlimited number of people," the agency reports.

Other individuals added to the register of the Ministry of Justice received the status of a foreign agent for similar reasons: Antonov "participated in the activities of an organization included in the list of foreign and international non-governmental organizations whose activities are considered undesirable in the territory of the Russian Federation."

Volokhonsky, as noted, "disseminated false information about decisions taken by public authorities of the Russian Federation and their policies."

According to the Ministry of Justice, Kirillov "participated in the dissemination of messages and materials of a foreign agent to an unlimited number of people," and Pryanishnikov, in addition to similar actions, "was the coordinator of the movement, the founder of which is included in the register of foreign agents."